Leaders from M-BRACE Cities met last week to share found challenges, opportunities, and regional linkages from the 4-year long engagement in Vietnamese and Thai cities.
Core stakeholders from Hue and Lao Cai, Vietnam and Phuket and Udon Thani, Thailand—met in Hue last week for the USAID Mekong-Building Climate Resilience in Asian Cities (USAID M-BRACE) project’s final workshop.
The participants shared how they have been assessing and responding to the complex challenges posed by urbanization and climate change. The challenges are magnified by increasing transportation and trade between the two countries as the impending launch of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community leads to further regional integration.
The four cities stakeholders expressed optimism about the future and commended USAID M-BRACE for helping to implement:
new policies and successful intervention projects;
raising awareness of urbanization and climate change as concerns for public policy; and
building opportunities for dialogue and multi-sector networks to combine local, city and provincial government efforts.
USAID M-BRACE is implemented by the Institute for Social and Environmental Transition-International in partnership with Thailand Environment Institute and the Vietnam National Institute for Science and Technology Policy and Strategy Studies.
For more information, please see the M-BRACE project page.